Kiernan's last novel The Red Tree impressed me mightily but ultimately did not win me over. I have been vindicated in my decision to give her another go. All the technical expertise, authenticity and stunning command over a deep and complex plot that was displayed in The Red Tree is out in force again but in The Drowning Girl Kiernan also brings something extra (a more likeable protagonist? a more compelling mythos? a more satisfying ending? all of this?) that made this novel one I could love as well as admire.

India Morgan Phelps (Imp to her friends) is attempting to write a 'ghost story.' What this means exactly is slowly unpacked throughout the novel. Imp is schizophrenic and her story is partly about separating the truth from her delusions but it's not nearly so simple as that. The truth, she tells us, is not the same as the factual. And for her the factual may not be something she can, or even wants, to discover. What follows is a mesmerising tale of transformations; mermaids, sirens and werewolves; parents dead and missing; lovers lost and found. Trying to lay it all out in a summary is as pointless as it is a disservice to the expertly layered narrative Kiernan has constructed.

Read this book if you like unreliable narrators, urban legends, or weird fiction. Even if you don't I'd urge you to give it a try. Kiernan deserves to be on the bestseller list for this.